Christians falsely assume that by embracing God, they will
magically receive a master-plan from Heaven’s architecture room for them to
follow for the remainder of their lives.
No path will ever be dark, no decision unclear. The idea that you apply the principles found
in the Bible and work out a real-time plan for the remainder of your life is
not one based in practical reality. You
would think it would work out this way, but it seldom does. There are those few who seem called to a
particular role, but they appear to be the exception not the rule. So what gives? Why is it that the most fundamental question
of how to serve God best can go unanswered for long periods of time?
Unfortunately, we are not always ready to hear the answers
to the questions we ask. Sometimes the
answers might be unthinkable to us, we may be eager to serve, but unprepared
for the service. In these instances God
needs more time with us, to help get us ready for what He may require of us
later. His tender mercy takes the time
that we need, to get our minds, bodies, and hearts in order for our next level
of service for Him. The faith we are
given, allows us to trust in God, and to know that our question will not always
go unanswered – but must sometimes be delayed in response for our own good.
Another reason why our destinies do not seem to be laid out
in front of us in full detail is the element of freedom of choice. Quite simply it is possible to serve God in a
number of ways. Not everyone has to be a
preacher, a teacher, a writer, or a prophet to serve the Lord. Doctors, Lawyers, and Indian Chiefs can also
serve the Lord in whatever profession we find ourselves in. As stated before witnessing is more about
helping other connect with the source of all good, than it is about convincing
others to believe like you do. In that
sense, as others see the Lord working in you, they will be drawn to the source
of the changes they see. Frankly, the
closer you get to God, the more others will want to know how you accomplished
it – what is different in your life – these questions are the gateway to
worship and witnessing.
Tradesmen, craftsmen, salesmen, and those who work in customer
service have even more opportunity to reflect the character of God than most
others. People in these kinds of
positions, who do an honest job, a thorough job, and maintain a humble loving
attitude despite the arrogance, and often obnoxious customer response, plainly
show the influence of God in their lives.
Customers are less likely to be rude to Doctors, Lawyers, and people in
leadership positions, because they feel the need of these people more and
usually only seek them out in times of trouble.
Those they commonly come across, they seem to have much less trouble
sharing their displeasure with. But
those humble Christian workers who maintain their composure, and still perform
to the best of their ability, are effectively ‘working’ for God without a
formal commission.
While God may not choose to lay out a detailed plan for us
to follow, He does not leave us completely ignorant as to His will. The Bible outlines a fair number of
principles we can follow to help us evaluate choices we come across to see if
they fit within His will. For instance,
I could be a salesmen for soft drink company, or for a cigarette company. The choice may be up to me. At first glance the choice seems
obvious. Tobacco is addictive, and
causes cancer. To work as an agent in
its sales seems like being directly responsible for spreading its pain. But one could argue that soft drinks are
equally responsible for the obesity disease infecting our youth. The sugar contained in soft drinks may not
have as immediate and devastating effect as the tobacco but over the long term
could also be considered poison. So what
would Jesus do?
Sometimes we confine ourselves to 2 obvious choices without
looking beyond the immediate options and thinking outside the box. Were we to limit ourselves to selling only
things that were free of contaminants we would quickly find our career options
completely blunted. Even ‘organic’ foods
may pose a health risk to smaller segment of the population. Between the soda or the cigarettes, the soda
seems less harmful. But having
demonstrated an interest in health issues and a passion on the topic, perhaps
the soda company would consider using your skills to promote it’s bottled water
line, or juice line, or athletic drinks?
Most companies have more than one product in their arsenal. And isn’t it possible that even the cigarette
company may also have a program to kick the habit, or equivalent educational
materials they are required by law to produce on the dangers of smoking. It may not be your first choice to work for a
cigarette company, but there may also be positions they fund that actually do
good works. And sometimes cigarette
companies have entirely other independent divisions that have nothing to do
with tobacco.
The truth is, that no matter how ‘evil’ you feel a cigarette
company may be, large corporations tend to have stock and holdings in one
another to such a point that the lines become blurred between one entity and
another. Wealth in our society is
centered at the tops of the pyramids, and abuse of workers at the bottom is a
commonplace occurrence. Trying to find a
‘good’ corporation is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Some corporations may be more blatantly good
than others, but none are completely clean.
This does not mean that God would have us perpetually unemployed. We can use Biblical principles to guide our
choices, but those principles include doing our best, even when our employer is
not the best of Christians. Judging
others for their positions, or employers, is never too good an idea. In fact, judging others should be avoided
period.
I worked for many years at defense contractor when I
graduated college. I supported my family
this way. I thought my position to be
somewhat patriotic in nature; in that I was helping keep a company going that
was strengthening the defense of my country.
Then war broke out. I heard
inside stories about the level of devastation some of the weapons we had built
had caused. Proud that we were more
‘accurate’ and causing less collateral damage, I spoke to a group of soldiers
in an airport while traveling. They had
used one of our weapons systems and were very familiar with it. And they relayed to me that they believed our
weapons system delivery mechanism had given several of the men testicular
cancer. I immediately informed my
co-workers and management of this report and was promptly ignored. I later found out that our ‘accuracy’ had
been overstated. Now I understand that
the CIA has direct control over drone planes with mounted weapons that can
‘assassinate’ high value targets almost anywhere. Was I a patriot or an accomplice to
murder? Is killing our enemies OK, or is
killing itself wrong? Is killing still
OK when we are only marginally sure of who our adversary is? And how many might we have killed or wounded
on our own side by lack of quality controls or standards (i.e. testicular
cancer)? Maybe the soldiers were
mistaken, maybe they were not. Was my
small supporting role in a large corporation in some way responsible for all
this damage?
I determined to serve the Lord better by looking for work in
another kind of company. I immediately
thought of working in our local Christian hospital. I had friends there. It seemed like a natural fit to apply IT
skills in a different environment. But
no. Never has a pathway been so sealed
up shut. I could not get in at any
level. 15 years later, and this door is
still closed to me. Hard to understand
that God would not want me working in an area that seems to directly support
His ethics – heal the sick, take care of the wounded, cure disease. But this was not to be for me. Instead I would hone my leadership skills in
other IT companies. My career would take
me places I could not have imagined. I
would stay true to my principles, and would be fortunate (i.e. blessed) to work
for honest men, who sought wealth not at the expense of others, but by aiding
others. Every company I have worked for
since, shared my ethics. This has been
nothing short of the favor of the Lord.
But it remains an open question for me, and for many I
know. How best to serve the Lord
next? What more can I do for Him, who
has done so much for me? I don’t feel I
have an answer for that question yet. So
I wait and watch and hope for one. In
the mean time, I try to serve Him now, and realize how pathetic I am at doing
just that. Perhaps the reason I do not
receive my own answer, is that my attempts to serve God are so wholly
inadequate there is not much I can for Him now, without damaging His name
further in the eyes of others. If so
Lord, then continue your work of change within me. I would normally ask He speed it up, but I
think I’ll defer that one, and trust He knows best J …
No comments:
Post a Comment